Friday, May 30, 2014

Yesterday's dinner was a complete fluke. I took steaks out of the freezer and had corn on the cob and potatoes. But for some reason my mom couldn't find the steaks to cook them for the kids. She insisted they weren't there.

I have no idea where these steaks are so need to search for them over the weekend.

In the mean time I was thinking what else we could make for the kids to eat.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

My cousin sent this article to me from Real Simple which talks about the seven best investments of your time. The goal of these investments of time is for you to create better memories and lead a more fulfilled life. Great Get It Done Tips!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Lucky day! I found $20 bucks walking to the train this morning. I passed it along to a homeless person on my way to catch a cab in the city. Not sure he was even with it enough to notice, but hopefully it goes towards food!

I came across this link for jazzed up brownies. Wanted to share as a Get It Done Tip -- use boxed brownies as the base and follow the rest of the idea to have some quick easy desserts on hand for the holiday weekend. Enjoy!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Sunday we had a lot of leftover pasta, sauce and meatballs. Normally I would toss the pasta and freeze the sauce; however, I am trying to empty my freezer so decided to reshuffle my meal plan and make the easiest meal ever.

I took the pasta and put it on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Mixed through a bag of frozen vegetables. Sliced the meatballs and layers them on top of the pasta/veggies. Poured the sauce on everything and liberally sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.

My mom heated it up for the kids and served it with a salad last night and there wasn't a drop left when I got home.

A great Get It Done Tip for a quick meal to repurpose pasta and sauce.

Monday, May 19, 2014

When I realized these 3 weren't getting second requests I decided to make them into "marshmallow treats". Great Get It Done Tip to ensure nothing goes to waste. Use any cereal you have on hand - just follow the recipe instructions in this link here.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Here's another Get it Done Tip to ensure you have the freshest ingredients for your family meals. My Aunt recommends growing your own herbs. Start in the Spring and have fresh herbs all summer. She keep them in a large container right outside her kitchen door. A great tip is to dry the herbs in your oven so you have dried herbs to carry you through winter. Here's a recipe for drying your own herbs.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

My wonderful Aunt just sent me a whole bunch of tips she suggested I share, so here is the first. :)

Get It Done Tip: Don't ever
buy ready made grated cheese that hasadditives, fillers, etc.Get a
wedge from the cheese section of your grocery store.They will grate it gratis.Ask them to save the rind as you can put that
in your spaghetti sauce for extra flavor.You will notice the difference immediately.The grated cheese is fresh and it is all
natural.You'll find that because of the
bolder flavor you don't even have to use as much.

I do this too, but didnt realize they can grate it for you at the store. Good tip!

Monday, May 12, 2014

I am always looking for new breakfast food ideas. I came across these French Toast Roll-Ups and love them as a way to use up any bread leftover at the end of the week. Check it out as today's Get It Done Tip on this site.

Tonight I have a volunteer event on Broadway through work. Andrew McCarthy might be there. OMG so exciting! ;)

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Had a great day today. Woke up to my middle one coming in my room telling me his teacher said we need to do whatever I want since it is mother's day. He then went downstairs to bring up to me a plant he brought home from school as my gift. He is too sweet!

Came downstairs to my annual gift of hanging plants and a gift card for the nail salon.

We took a long walk while my oldest biked and middle one road his scooter.

When we got home my husband took us to Modern Barn which was excellent.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

8 AM lacrosse and 10:40 Musical Munchkins makes for a busy, fun morning!
We have friends coming over later for a dinner/playdate. Planning on barbecuing grilled chicken skewers, rice pilaf, salad and chocolate cake for dessert.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Found this great article in Entrepreneur magazine that I want to highlight this week. Here is the first one which gives tips on how to have a simple life. Great Get It Done Tips even for the non-entrepreneurs! Enjoy!﻿

Looking forward to dinner tonight at the Standard Grill with two of my buddies...can't wait!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Get It Done Tip - It's time to mark your calendar for Q1 2015 to sign up for Summer camps! Most camps offer a discounted rate if you enroll early enough in the year so put that reminder on your calendar to lock it in for Summer 2015!

Friday, May 2, 2014

My friend swears by this beer-marinated chicken as an easy weeknight meal. Enjoy it as today's Get It Done Tip. Have a great weekend!

Skin the chicken and put it in a container or freezer bag and add beer. Any beer really
is fine but make sure it’s a beer flavor you like. We used a cherry beer
once and my husband was the only one who enjoyed his dinner. Freeze it however
long you want. If you don’t want to freeze it that way then do that same
thing but let it sit overnight. Then just take it out of the beer and
throw it on the grill. Makes for very tender delicious chicken. It
will not have a strong beer taster unless you use a really strong beer.
It just makes the chicken super tender.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

My Aunt read the post from yesterday and wanted to share her Get It Done Tips for easy meals. Enjoy!

Here's something I make when I don't feel like
cooking.I'm sure you do this but in
case you don't.

Margarita Pizza

Get Trader Joe's or Whole Foods' dough.I get one whole wheat and one white and then
knead them together.

Make the crust.

Put a little oil and garlic on pizza dough Placefresh mozzarella (yes it goes on first) then
Plum tomatoes.Plum tomatoes work well
as you don't have a lot of seeds or juice.

Any kind of vegetables you might have in fridge or not.I love it plain but I've put left over onions
and peppers or chicken sausage.

Bake 500 for 10 minutes.Check to see if crust is done before taking out.

Kids love to put it together and put everything on the
pizza too.

Slow Cooker Soup

Get everything already chopped, i.e.,raw onions, small
carrots, celery.And throw in slow
cooker with beans.1/2 cup barley, 1/2
cup lima bean, 1/2 cup any other beans you might have and a lambbone/hock.Add whatever spices you have.Just bought about 10 different spices that I plant in a large pot
outside by my kitchen door.Put in 6 or
7 cups of water or broth.

Frittata

On Food Network yesterday while I was on the
treadmillI finally found what we had
in Spain.It was a
potato/egg/frittata.I loved it. They
sell the "pies" every where in Spain.Good to make ahead too as all they did was give you a slice that was
warmed up.I tried to get the recipe
on line but couldn't find it.

Peel potatoes and slice thinly.Put in boiling water until still firm but not
hard (cooks quickly, don't want too soft or will fall apart)

Drain potatoes and add to the mixture of cheese, eggs,
cooked sausage etc.Don't over stir or
potatoes will fall apart.I'd say 30
minutes but I'll check other recipes before making.

Stuffed Vegetarian Peppers

Here's another from Spain.I usually ask the waiter the ingredients if I
like the dish and then try to make it.No actual recipe with measurements, of course.Had stuffed vegetarian peppers.

Here are the ingredients:Brown rice, prunes (yes that's right) chopped, almonds (chopped), curry
powder.You wouldn't be able to guess
that one of the ingredients was prunes. You could probably use wild rice,
quinoa or whatever.It did have a sauce
on it but I don't remember what it was.They also did a tomato cream sauce on top of stuffed peppers with cod.I'd blanch the peppers before stuffing.

Fish Cooked in Parchment

Of course to make clean up easy, I always use parchment
paper when making fish, peppers, cookies, etc.Also get a full side of wild fish and enclose in parchment with carrots,
celery,(not onions), thyme, dill or
whatever, little butter, wine.Close the
parchment and have a delicious fish dinner in 15 minutes.Can't be quicker than that.If you think it needs a bit more cooking, put
under the broiler for 2 minutes.Big
salad tops it all off.